The Higher Certificate (Ardteastas in Irish) is an award that has replaced the National Certificate in Ireland The Higher Certificate is awarded by various Institutes of Technology. A Higher Certificate academic programme is 2 years of full-time study.
The equivalent British award is a Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.HE) Both the Irish Higher Certificate and the British Certificate of Higher Education are Level 6 awards on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications.
References
Higher Certificate Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA